Daughters of Jusenkyo
by J.W.L
Summary: Ten years after he left for Hong Kong, Ranma is losing himself in his curse and forgetting his humanity, until his past comes back to offer him hope. Vampire the Requiem Ranma Fusion Rated M for Mature themes
1. Prologue

Daughters of Jusenkyo

Daughters of Jusenkyo

J.W. Leonard

A World of Darkness / Ranma 1/2 Fusion

Prologue

"You really should have let me taken him on a training journey." Genma Soatome was watching his ten year old grandchild play in the background.

"And have him like his father, I don't think so." Nabiki Soatome was also watching her son play. He was the spitting image of his father at that age, he turned and waved at the pair sitting on the porch while he ran around the yard.

"I wouldn't have gone their again." Genma sounded affronted.

"No, but you have a talent for finding the dark things in this world and mixing your child into it." Nabiki looked at Genma through the steam of her tea. "Besides, you're too old to be walking…hobbling around the country with a young boy. You're getting old panda."

"Have you heard anything…?" Genma let the question hang.

Nabiki sighed.

"Nothing. The money is still coming, but it's not him." She looked back out at her son.

"I just wish that something would happen to bring him back into my life."

Just then, the sound of the front door opening and the call of Soun came through the house. He came to back porch with a package.

"This was in the mail for you." Soun handed the box wrapped in brown wrapping paper and twine to Nabiki.

"Who's this from?" Taking it from her father, Nabiki looked for the return address, before opening it. Finding none, she pulled a strand of twine and unwrapped the package.

Inside was a note and a locket, the locket was an elaborate and complicated silver-worked thing.

"How pretty. How do you open it?" Nabiki pulled out the locket and let it hang in front of her eyes. She set it down and opened the note. As she read the note, her eyes darkened.

"It's from the Amazons." Nabiki lifted the locket back up.

"This is his cure."


	2. Chapter 1

Daughters of Jusenkyo

By J.W.L

Chapter one:

I miss the night sky. When I was a kid out training with my father in China, the sky was packed so tight with stars you couldn't count them all. I would stay up as late as I could just staring up into the stars. Then we would wake up early and get to training. The city sky doesn't have stars.

In the pursuit of the Art, I have made a lot of sacrifices over the years; My childhood, my mother, my father, sense of family, education, social skills, happiness, and even my mortality and manhood. It wasn't until I had to sacrifice the day and my self-identity to keep from sacrificing my love did I think that I was really getting the short end of the stick.

My name is Ranma Saotome, but these days it's either Red or Ranma. For the past ten years I have been living in Hong Kong, learning to live with my curse and how to live with the others who share that curse. One of the main lessons I learned is that Vampirism did not originate from those damned pools and other vampires would be very interested in learning how my version of the curse actually works.

There are five major vampire families, or clans as they refer to themselves: Ventrue, Daeva, Gangrel, Nosferatu, and Mehket, each family has its own minor families; called bloodlines. The Daughters of Jusenkyo are a bloodline within the Mehket family known for embracing only female martial artists with a phobia of water.

The truth of the Daughters is that each member has visited a cursed training ground in China known as Jusenkyo and fallen into a very specific pool there; the Spring of Drowned Vampire Girl. Something like that doesn't happen very often and the elders of this bloodline have taken measures to prevent it from happening again, but I have proven that it will regardless of their preventative measures.

I went from being a young man on the edge of being one of the best martial artists in the world today, to being a petite, alabaster skinned red haired vampire girl. That was generally what happened at Jusenkyo, except many people became cursed with animal curses. Cold water would change them into an animal, Hot water would change them back.

It hadn't been that bad at first, at least it hadn't been anything I couldn't handle. If I got wet during the day, then I would drop unconscious and sunlight would be painful. At night I would be up and about. The thing about vampirism is that it is a curse in it's own right.

My father drug me back to Japan and forced a fiancé on me. Nabiki Tendo, one of the most cut throat, mercurial, and blood thirsty girls to ever grace the Nerima school system recognized what my curse was immediately and jumped at the opportunity. Akane, Nabiki's sister, took an instant dislike to me and did everything in her power to drive me away.

My old rival; Ryoga Hibiki showed up and challenged me, and so did a Chinese huntress who wanted to kill me. It didn't take long for Nabiki to make some connections that me and my father hadn't and we were in contact with the Daughters of Jusenkyo in Hong Kong. She even got control of the situation with the Chinese girl, had her locked up as a criminal.

They really helped me out by helping me keep the curse at bay with temporary cures. I got to know my fiancé and I think that we were really in love. But then the Amazons returned and locked my curse with a pressure point. Lukewarm water would blister my skin after that, cold showers felt warm. The Amazons left after that, a sick form of revenge if you ask me, they made vague promises of returning with a cure one day.

The Daughters of Jusenkyo came back and helped me then as well. They let me be male for my wedding day. They have provided for my wife and child for the past ten years while I have moved away from them in order to protect them.

The last time I saw them was five years ago. I haven't changed physically, but emotionally and mentally I was a different person. My love for them has not diminished, but I was not the same. I was no longer a niave boy, but a hunter of the night, a killer with a killer body. I had little choice in that matter. The hunger cares not where the blood comes from. If I refuse it the blood it longs for, it will override me and take it from who ever is closest to me.

Our passion for each other hadn't diminished and we spent several memorable nights in each others arms during that brief instance. I even tasted my love's blood, a quick nip with her permission and encouragement. It was not to be a permanent thing though, soon enough, my hunger began to make demands upon me that I could not ignore. I refused to put my family in danger.

Every vampire has their horror stories, clichés of when they put the bite on a loved one because they thought they could control the hunger. I don't have that horror story; I have the one where the person I killed was just a random mortal, but losing control like that scared me to my core. It made me appreciate why the Daughters removed me so far from Nabiki; it was to protect me as much as it was to protect them. If I killed her or harmed her in any way, then I would have no problem greeting the sunlight after that.

I have come to accept this curse, but I still have hope that one day I can return to the day and be rejoined with my family. I've missed too many of my son's birthdays already, but for now I must be a monster or I'll become a monster.

After a while, the nights tend to blend together and stop being Monday and Tuesday, but more like tonight and last night.

Tonight I'm riding with a few others from my clan on a blood hunt. Marc was driving his souped up Honda, tooled under the hood so often that the manufacturer wouldn't have recognized it anymore, but the exterior was made to blend in with the rest of traffic.

There were four of us riding in Marc's car, all of us Neonates; Marc being the oldest. He was just on the edge of becoming Ancilla, over fifty years a vampire, and was complaining about today's music even though he insisted on playing it loudly.

I was in the back with Lee, not his real name, and he had styled himself after Brandon from the Crow movie, long black hair, black trench and boots. He stopped wearing the make up after the Harpies lampooned him at court one day. He was grim and intent. He was usually like this before he got into a fight. We were the youngest of the group, Lee was older by a couple of years.

Sitting shotgun was Hiro, craziest creep I ever met, but one of the most able in a fight, next to me of course. He was in tight with the Elders of the city, which is how we had the heads up on the blood hunt. Marc turned the music down enough so that we could talk without yelling in each other's ears.

"So why are we going after this guy again?"

"Ranma, when are you going to lose that quaint innocence you insist on maintaining?"

"Screw you, Hiro."

"She broke the tradition of progeny, embraced without permission, so now we get to eat her and her childe."

"Do we have to eat her?"

"Eat, kill, eliminate, remove from the equation. Pick your metaphor. The Prince is serious about the traditions and enforcing them, nobody breaks his traditions without consequences. Something you should know about Ranma."

"…"

"We can't _eat _them." Lee spoke up. "That's also against the Prince's traditions."

"So what are we going to…?"

"Standard stake and bake operation."

"How we doing this?" This wasn't my first time as part of a kindred strike team, but it was the first time for anything other than enforcement.

"They're holed up in her haven; here." Hiro pulled out a map and handed it to me. A red circle marked where we were going. "Me and Marc will go through the front door. You and Lee will watch the back, make sure they don't run."

"Weapons?"

"Bag at your feet. Stakes, knives, and special for you, a 22." There was a small automatic that fit my hand, unlike many of the other guns of larger calibers.

"You know I don't do guns."

"Like you don't do guys?"

"Screw you, Hiro."

"We're here."

Marc passed by an apartment complex, slowing his vehicle down so we could peer out the window and get a good look.

"That's the one."

"Show time."

Marc found a parking spot and we all got out, I grabbed a couple of stakes while everybody else loaded up.

"Nice Matrix look, very subtle."

"Eyes to yourself, Hiro."

We moved towards the apartment, Marc and Hiro went to the front of the building. Lee and myself stayed back, keeping an eye out for a runner.

"You're doing better." Lee said after a few minutes. "Grown more comfortable with your curse."

"Now is not a good time for this." The curse, vampirism, comes with a few perks to offset the drawbacks. The perks are different for each of the vampiric families, or clans, the Mehket clan deal with shadows and knowledge. Lee could vanish from sight on a stage if he wanted to. I could barely shoplift.

If I concentrated, I could enhance my senses to supernatural sharpness. Right now, I had my eyesight so sharp I could count the pores in the bricks from across the street. I found the apartment that our targets were in. They were home.

"There was a time when you wouldn't have even agreed to something like this. Hunting down another kindred."

"Things change. Can you focus?"

"I mean it. You're not the same girl that just casually insulted the entire Primogen council during court at her first Elysium."

I was on Lee before he saw it coming. I could feel the vitae burning in my body as I pushed my body to inhuman speeds.

"I paid for that mistake a long time ago." By me; I mean Church, my 'sire' in the world of the kindred. It was a harsh lesson for me to watch her publicly punished for my words. The secret of the Daughters of Jusenkyo is that we aren't embraced, but rather we fall into a pool at Jusenkyo and become cursed that way. The older Daughters usually claim to be the Sires of new victims to make the transition to kindred society easier.

"Jeez. Get off of me."

"We're here for a purpose. Now keep your eyes open."

I glanced back at the apartment. The shades had been drawn but I could make out the figures inside. There were two of them inside; a woman and a guy. The guy was newly vampire, still reeling from what had been done to him. The woman went to the window and opened the shades and window to let in some air. I didn't recognize her, but I suddenly needed to run, to get away from her. It passed. She didn't see me.

It's called the predator's taint, that feeling vampires get when they meet each other for the first time. The basic fight of flight instinct of beasts; predator and prey, let's us know where we stand with each other. The trick is not to let it get to you. She was old, almost an elder by my count.

That's when Hiro and Marc made their entrance. The door busted in and they quickly jabbed a stake into the man's chest. They must have missed the heart because the guy came back swinging. The woman didn't stay, but jumped out of the window and into the street below. I saw her legs break.

"We're on." Lee concentrated and faded from perception and I burned more of the vitae within my body, I was across the street and in the woman's face in the space of two heartbeats. I got there just in time to see her set her legs back in place. I gave her a good backhanded slap.

Damn near broke my hand. It was like hitting marble.

That's when she went frenzied on me, I saw it in her eyes. The Man within her receded and the Beast took over. She was on me, clawing and biting at me, and it took all of my fighting skills to keep her from scoring more than a couple of elbows. Suddenly she stopped and a stake was shoved through her heart from behind, her body went limp, but her eyes didn't go dead.

"Way to be subtle, Red." Lee chastised me.

"Shut up and help me." Luckily there hadn't been any witnesses to our scuffle. We hoisted her up between us and Lee took his jacket off and covered her up. It was a poor cover but all we had. We hadn't planned this far ahead.

"Let's get her back to the car."

We had gotten her to the car and into the trunk of the car with no problem, the trunk had barely been shut when Hiro and Marc came up with the guy carried between them. They were both slightly beat up.

"Mother wouldn't go without a fight." Marc was the worse of the two.

"Now what?"

"Now we take them in for the Prince's judgment." Hiro said with a smug look.

We piled the guy into the back seat with Lee and myself, I was on the guy's lap, the stake in his chest poking into me as Marc started the car and pulled out into traffic. Marc's music cut back in more annoying than it was before.

"Why do you play this crap so much if you hate it so bad?" It was the usual post fight question that got asked as we rode in Marc's car. I hated his music as much as he claimed to. I could feel the hunger gnawing at my guts since I burned through it using my disciplines. It always put an edge to my mood. "Turn this stuff off."

"We have to keep up the Masquerade."

"Marc, you know that's a weak argument. Just pop in something that we can all enjoy for once."

"They stopped playing the music I like years ago."

"So buy a C" Lee was interrupted mid sentence as Marc's Honda got T boned in an intersection, knocking the stake that was poking my back into my back and into my heart. Being staked is like being paralyzed, a full body shut down except for the mind, not an experience I would recommend.

I could hear the others moving around the car, I tried to speak, to move, to do anything, but with a stake in my back, I couldn't even blink.

I heard car doors open and close, people were running over and prying the Honda open. The trunk was opened, my door was opened and both me and the guy were pulled out.

"Got him. Hey, does this redhead look familiar?" I recognized the voice, but I couldn't see who it was.

"Just get the target and leave her." Another familiar voice, female, angry, oddly authoritative.

Strong hands pried me and the guy apart, his stake came out of my back with a wet sucking sound. Being staked sucks, but having pulled out isn't pleasant either. You have to force everything to move again, and that takes blood. By the time I got done coughing up bits of lung and bone, and healing the hole in my back, the other car was long gone with our bodies.

Marc, Hiro, and Lee were all still getting out of the car.

"Come on guys." I pulled the door open and pulled out Hiro.

I burned more blood and sped the process up. I pulled out Marc, Lee and got all of Marc's registration information out his glove box. I even yanked off his license plate. By the time I got done, they were back on their feet and the lights could be seen.

"We've got to go." We staggered away from the wreck.

"What happened?" Lee was the first to really say anything after we were off the street and had our bearings.

"We got ambushed." I said. "They waited until we took out the kindred and her childe and then they stole our prize."

"Who else had our intel?" Marc was looking forlornly back at the wreck that was his car.

"Nobody." Hiro said. "I paid up good for first crack. Everybody else should be on the other side of town."

"Then they may have not been kindred." Marc was good for making theories.

"We know that they weren't after us, they wanted the girl and her child, why?" Lee and the others including myself were all walking normally again, our wounds healed by our vampiric vitae. Only our clothing would betray the violence of the night.

"It was a pair, man and woman." Lee had been on the far side from the side that had gotten hit. "I got a look at them, but not police line up quality."

"My haven's close by." Hiro volunteered. "We need off the street."

'Close by' turned out to be nearly two hours of walking. Fortunately for us, the streets were relatively clear of kine, mortals, and we didn't encounter any more kindred.

Hiro's Haven turned out to be a basement apartment in a crappy building. Fortunately he believed in being prepared for almost anything and had plenty of blood in his fridge that he was more than happy to share.

"Just remember my generous hospitality tonight." His way of saying that we owed him one.

The blood sang a song to the beast within me. Blood from the bag isn't as good as blood from the meat. There's no rush or pleasure in it, just nourishment and that flat dead flavor, but blood is blood when the chips are down.

By the look of it, Hiro had been a network engineer before his embrace. Computer parts and huge technical manuals littered the floor and sometimes acted like furniture. Marc laughed when he saw a couple of old pizza boxes.

"Cover" was all Hiro would say about them.

One side of Hiro's room was dominated by a computer that he had put together.

"Let's see what the network has to say." Hiro fired up the computer and waited for the connection. Back before the internet, there were these networks called USENET's. Hiro and a few other kindred with a computer fetish set one up dedicated to kindred topics. According to him, their security is top notch even if somebody could hack the system, it's self enclosed.

"What do we know?"

"They knew we would have the two. Were they spying on us?" Marc started this brainstorm.

"Or on them. Our wayward girl may have had their attention already and we created an opportunity for them."

"They drove a vehicle that could survive that impact, surely it was banged up a bit." Lee volunteered.

"So we have a male and female driving a banged up vehicle with a couple of staked kindred, both of which the Prince wants dead, and they were last seen at that intersection. Do we have a make or model on the vehicle?" Hiro was typing all of this into the computer.

"Felt like a Tank."

"So... that would be a no then?"

"Sorry man, I had a face full of airbag and a near fatal case of whiplash." Count on Marc to make a joke.

"I'll post this and see if the other users respond."

"What now?" Being the youngest, this was a new experience for me.

"We wait. Hopefully somebody saw something or can point us in the right direction and we can nail these guys. They may be hunters for all we know, or somebody's ghouls. If we get a lead, I'll let you know and we'll follow it." Hiro started.

"We also keep an ear to the ground for our girl in case this was their plan all along, keep an eye on at court for anybody claiming credit for the kill or bringing the girl in for judgement, until we know more we've done what we can."

I snuck a peak at the computer screen. 'Random fact of the day' it said. 'Did you know that a group of vampires is called a conspiracy, like a group of crows is called a murder of crows?' that made me laugh.

We left Hiro's apartment after that. It was 4am and there was enough time to go back to my haven and prepare for the day. My haven was another crappy apartment, like Hiro's except mine didn't have a view of nothing. Either through careful and precise planning or some quirk of fate, some genius laid out the structure to where an entire apartment complex had no direct sunlight exposure. The views from the windows were for shit, but I could sleep in a bed with the window open with no fear.

It was in a crummy neighborhood, but the message about B and E in that building had gotten across.

I kept my apartment sparse, a couple of pictures of me and Nabiki from when I was a guy. Our wedding photos, and a television with a dvd player. A wardrobe that only seemed to grow when I wasn't looking and a few random bits of furniture that doubled as laundry hampers.

I hit play on the DVD player and got undressed, throwing the ruined shirt into the trash.. I could hear the familiar noise of our wedding day from so long ago as I shut the blinds on the windows and crawled into bed. I would hunt tomorrow night. Day broke and I lost consciousness.

Being a vampire sucks.

Author's Note: I am putting an open call out for pre readers and betas.

The first book, Spring of Drowned Vampire Girl, was very closely tied with the original story by Rumiko but this sequel is my own.

Reviews are invited.


	3. Chapter 2 rewritten

Daughters of Jusenkyo

Chapter 2

I woke up ravenous. I had burned up a lot of blood last night and my body had finally tallied what it was owed and had mailed the bill. I would have to hunt tonight.

One of the biggest obstacles I had faced when Church started to teach me how to survive as a kindred was how to hunt. I had refused to do it outright for one reason or another and subsisted on blood bags and other sources. But they were right when they said that blood was like a drug. It was more than just the reluctance to hurt somebody else, but also the abandoning of my very masculine identity in order to get the blood as painlessly as possible.

The best way I can put it like this; I was born a guy, but now I'm a vampire girl who barely looks old enough to get into the clubs. I either had to adapt or die. My self image and my identity were broken on the shores of my bloodlust, I could savagely take what I needed from whomever or I could persuade them to let me have it. After the first time of drinking directly from a person, everything else was just a pale imitation and never hit the spot.

Imagine given the choice of eating a succulent steak cooked and spiced just right or having a bowl of ramen noodles with no flavoring, which would you go for every opportunity?

The blood bag from last night was a dim memory compared to what I was anticipating.

There were several options for the modern kindred looking to take in sustenance during these modern nights. Depending on the day of the week, the nightlife could be popping enough that the hunting grounds could be open, it had been awhile since I put in face time at the club. Some enterprising Daeva was running a ring of blood dolls, mortals who were more than happy to be fed upon. Haven delivery.

During my nights, I have been fortunate to have met a few souls who were happy to let me quench my thirst with their blood. Trouble was that I couldn't just call them up and expect them to drop everything to meet with me so I could nuzzle their neck and drain em a little.

William was one such person, met him a couple of months ago and been feeding on him since. Big guy, lots of muscle, but doomed in that even though he was big, he was too innocent and naive to make use of it. His big draw for me was that he was so big, I could fill myself on him and he wouldn't even notice.

Feeding is an incredibly intimate act, so intimate that when discussing it, many kindred refer to it as 'the kiss' that instant when fang pierces skin. It produces feelings of euphoria in the victim and often clouds their minds about what is going on. Addictive if somebody if fed upon regularly. William had it in his head that we were dating, and even though I never encouraged that deception, it served my purpose.

Last couple of options I had were either go to the blood bank for more bags, or to actually go out and hunt somebody down and get what I needed directly.

William seemed the best option. I pulled out my phone with the intention of dialing him up.

A word about cell phones and vampires. Only those recently embraced, say within the past fifty years, really appreciate cell phones, and even then, some of the new phones have all but the youngest confused.

Text messaging is one such innovation that escapes the majority of kindred.

I had a text message waiting for me on my phone. Dated last night from Church. 'Come see me.' Was all it said. I sent a response letting her know I would be hunting first.

I'll skip the details about how I filled my belly with the required blood, the hot rush of pulsing ecstasy in my mouth. It was the winter months so sunset was around seven, I was on my way to see Church by nine.

Ten years ago, when Church became the official head of the bloodline after Eve disappeared into torpor, as older vampires are want to do after being awake for an extended period, Church officially moved into the house that Eve had built. Church had also claimed me as her childe in front of the Prince of Hong Kong, trading in some favors to make it stick.

The Prince of Hong Kong was a severe business woman named Yutani, I say severe because that's what others say about her. My impression of her when I met her was no nonsense and intimidating as all hell. The Primogen Council act as her advisors in kindred matters, population control, kindred rights, domains, havens, policies about mortals, etc. The Prince has final say and she has the potency of blood and the loyalty of a small army to enforce her laws.

Eve had been around for nearly as long as the Prince and held a spot on that council, looking out for our best interests as a bloodline. With her gone, Church has attempted to fill her shoes and teach me what I needed to know. Akira helped when he could. Church's version of the jusenkyo curse wasn't locked, but an unfortunate encounter with a rival kindred left him a vampire in both genders. At the time it seemed he was loving it, but ever since Eve left, it seemed that Church had changed as well. She spent less time as a male and more time as a female. Said it was the demands of the role.

I had spent several years within the house of the Daughters of Jusenkyo. The same house that Nabiki and me spent when we first came to Hong Kong so long ago. I left a year ago to maintain my own haven and to interact with the kindred of my clan, adopted though they be. Why it took so long was because I had to be re-educated from the ground up. My formal education could have been called spotty and that would have been generous. The truth of it was that when I came into the house after my curse had been locked, I couldn't maintain a conversation that didn't somehow center around the Arts or Nabiki, my interests had expanded.

It wasn't just the basic stuff, I retained knowledge once I put my mind to it. It was also the gender stuff, the kindred stuff, the deception stuff, the long term view stuff, and personality stuff. I had a lot of bad habits I had to break. As nice as everybody had been, when it became clear that I would be joining the ranks of the Daughters of Jusenkyo, they didn't mess around. I would, one day be representing the bloodline in some way or another. Before I put my foot in my mouth in front of ancient and terrible monsters, I would be able to do so with pride.

it took so long because they had to break me down and rebuild me, and they had only half the day to do so. What they had to do to me to undo some of the damage that my father had done to me with his education was bad, but never as bad as the Cat-fu training. Still have that too, fear of cats and all.

They let Nabiki in on it. Kept her up to date with my progress, we spoke about it a lot. She made suggestions, I resisted, she would laugh at me and then manipulate me into it anyway. I don't think I would have made the progress that I did without her influence.

Now, instead of a chauvinistic uneducated guy with a chip on his shoulder about a curse that gave him the worst kind of gender identity crisis anybody could imagine, I was an educated vampire woman with a chip on her shoulder about being treated like a girl. My attitude was still there, just modified.

The first time I had gone to court and met the prince and her council, I spoke up outside of etiquette and ended up insulting the entire primogen council much to the amusement of all the other kindred. I wasn't laughing when they punished me by punishing Church. Since I was still a fledgling, Church was responsible for all my actions. After that was when I stopped resisting so much.

With me out of the house, I was then out and into kindred city politics. Some mentioned how long it had taken for me to cut my strings, but then again, most of the kindred I knew had been embraced in either their adult years or twilight years. Most kindred thought that I was pushing the limits of how soon should a person become a vampire. To see the reasons why, rent a copy of Interview with a Vampire by anne rice, pay attention to Claudia.

Getting back to point, Church wanted to see me and the house was where she would be.

I was practically an expert on the kindred politics of the hong kong area, every Daughter had to be because our bloodline was in a precarious position within the peking order in the city. With Eve gone and me the fledgling, mistakes couldn't be made again. We were a recognized bloodline in the city of Hong Kong because of our unique way of embracing new kindred into the fold, we only chose female martial artists, and even then rarely. In reality we waited for new victims of Jusenkyo and then tracked them down, but the truth wouldn't fly all that well with other kindred.

We had to know which toes not to step on.

During the year that I had been out of the house, my primary group of associates had been other Mekhet kindred, through them I picked up a bike and learned how to ride. I had entertained the thought of working martial arts into motorcycling, but the cost of the machine kept most of my ideas in my head.

So it was that I pulled into the driveway of the house with my ninja bike and went into meet with Church.

The house was lived in by one of the victims of jusenkyo and his family while he wasn't locked into his cursed form, Alex. It was late so I wasn't expecting them to be up.

Fortunately, there was a section of the house with its own entrance that was dedicated to kindred affairs, so I could meet with Church and not wake the family.

When I came through the doors, I could hear Church in the other room talking on the phone.

"I understand, I'll let her know." Church paused, "She'll be in contact with you soon. Goodnight." I tried to enhance my hearing and silence myself so I could hear the voice on the other side of the conversation, much like I had been trained to do, but all I heard was the final click of the phone being hung up and Church saying, "I heard you pull up and come in, so it's no use trying to be stealthy now. Come on out Red."

Red had been Church's nickname for me and it had stuck.

I stepped into Eve's old office, now Church's and greeted her.

"I don't think I could ever sneak up on you." I said, taking a seat across from her.

"Good try though. If you hadn't been driving that crotch rocket and then just came in, you may have done so. You're getting better."

"Thinking about it like a martial art helps."

"I have a lot of things that I would like to discuss with you." Church had matured quite a bit since the first time I met her and so had I. "Some people have been pressing me for you to make a decision about which covenant to join. I've stalled them as much as possible, but they're getting impatient."

"Ah." The covenants. Where clan is family, covenant is career.

There were several different covenants within the kindred society. Power, religion, magic, weird science, and equality seemed to be the major themes with the major covenants within the city.

Kindred society could be considered like an onion, onions have layers, only these layers are secrets.

Secret number one is that vampires exist.

The second big secret is that vampires are self governed via the I'm the oldest yard stick, which they often use to beat people with.

The third big secret is that there are secret societies of vampires working within that system.

The fourth big secret is that there are families of vampires.

I'm sure the fifth big secret is that there are secret societies within the secret societies. Wouldn't be surprised. Just saying.

Membership is invitation only. Being invited was an honor, refusing to join an insult.

Being a vampire means that the big covenants don't mind if you know about them, in fact, they want you to know about them. Fear them or join them. Their standards are, from what I heard, high.

Where did the Daughters of Jusenkyo fit in this mess? Truthfully, in Hong Kong, we were represented in almost every single covenant and had uniformly produced exceptional members. Nobody in a leadership position, but assets none the less, bloodline discrimination if you asked me.

"Which one has been pushing the hardest?" I had been delaying this decision hoping that a cure would have been forthcoming from the Amazons. Ten years and counting with not so much as a peep out of them. Nabiki kept telling me to look at what I had and not what I wanted. I had a choice to make.

"The Prince's Covenant, the Invictus, seems to have the most interest in you. The Sheriff specifically says that he's been impressed with your fighting skills and could use you. And is willing to continue your training in several different fields."

"He wants me as an enforcer?" I was somewhat shocked. I had encountered the sheriff's team during this past year and we had bumped heads. Same goals, one prize type of thing. One of the Mekhet clan had gotten some hot information and suddenly found himself persona non gratis with everybody but his clanmates, another neonate. What we found out was that the Prince was equally interested in this information and had sent out her Sheriff to get the guy. Some misunderstanding later and I'm dancing toe to toe with one of the heavy players. Not something that you should do as a neonate, but there you go. At the end of the entire fiasco I cornered him and asked him to keep quiet about the entire thing. He agreed for the usual price, I owed him one.

"And more. Says that you have a glowing reference with him." Dude was so dead.

"Other options?"

"The Ordo Dracul have also expressed an interest, but mainly because we have a couple of members already within their ranks. The Cartharian Movement sends their regards, I think, out of habit. The Circle of the Crone asked a couple of questions, but haven't made a formal invitation. Nothing except the usual from the Lancea Sanctum, spear of Longinus and vampirism as a curse from god type of thing."

Neither of us were christian, so the idea of joining the church was humorous.

"Is it really important that I join?"

"I'll be honest with you. As a bloodline, we owe a lot to some of these groups, they often demand something in return for their sponsorship. A generous amount of our money comes from our associations with these secret societies. Invictus and the Ordo appeal to us the most, but so does the Circle. Money and power, transcending the immortal condition, or magic. I think you would be more suited to what the Invictus have to offer you, but the ordo dracul would also fit in with your goals, there have been some success in applying their methods to the jusenkyo curse." Church wasn't telling me everything, which was good, they had trained me to be inquisitive and to figure things out for myself.

"How long before a final answer is expected?"

"The Invictus expect an answer by the end of the weekend. The Ordo didn't specify, but they're not paragons of patience either."

"How would this effect my relationship with Nabiki?"

"You would be spending the majority of your time with kindred who look down upon keeping ties with your former life, in either group. It's been difficult at best for you as it is to maintain your relationship."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm not saying anything. Just pointing out facts. Go and weigh your options, here is the contact information of both groups, talk to them and see if what they have to say appeals to you." Church slid me a slip of paper. "You could always go the unaligned route, but I'm asking that you don't."

I didn't really have much to say after that, I took the information, asked if there was anything else, and headed out. I had a lot of thinking to do.

The rev of Ranma's bike leaving the house hadn't faded when Alex stepped out of the shadow in her vampiric form.

"What's your game, Church?" Alex was on the defensive.

"I need Ranma distracted. The Amazons actually sent a Pheonix pill to Nabiki and she's on her way to give it to Ranma."

"That's good news, right? It's what he's been waiting for."

"She. But it's also what a lot of the Daughters have been waiting for. How many have locked curses? How much information could we gleam from that one pill? Could we be able to replicate it?"

"I see your point, but I'm not sure I agree with what you're doing. Ranma's been pining away for so long about 'her' family, it's only been recently that she started to focus on anything long term that didn't include them."

"This is bigger than Red."

"Eve wouldn't approve."

"Eve did the same thing. When she chose me as her successor she wasn't falling into torpor, she had acquired the pheonix pill that the amazons had planned to use as leverage against Ranma. He is now out and enjoying the sunlight for the first time in over two hundred years."

"..."

"She's arriving tomorrow afternoon at the airport. She'll have the pill with her. We need to get it from her."

Alex only gave a slight indication of a nod before vanishing from sight.

Elsewhere.

The wolf was an unusual sight in the city, the only reason it was still out and loose was because of the leash that led to the wrist of the hard looking woman. Scarred, tattooed, and dressed to say, 'I don't care what you say, do or care about, get in my way and I'll remove you.'

The girl was letting the wolf lead while the wolf was acting like a bloodhound.

"Got her scent boy?" She waited for a gruff response. "Good."


	4. minor message

Authors message.

It's been forever since I've written anything on this, and now I'm inspired again and I'm writing and rewriting.

I'm happy with the story now and I'll be continuing from this point here on out.

No more rewrites.

I know it's a little annoying.


	5. Chapter 3

Daughters of Jusenkyo

Chapter 3

Nabiki hadn't spent the better part of the past ten years doing nothing, after she had given birth to her son, she had gone on to finish school and then college and then pursue a career that fitted her cut throat nature. The two old men and her sister had been kind enough to care for her son while she was working. Some times she would come home and her son would be so busy playing or training in the art with two older martial art's masters.

Finance had been her chosen field. Loans and collections. She was ruthless in her job and employed a number of agents to make sure that she got her money when the time came to collect. Her life was far from danger free as sometimes those she loaned to couldn't pay up and decided that eliminating the source of their debt would be the best way to do things. Part of why she had also started practicing the Arts as well.

Her love for Ranma had softened her a bit, but only around him, or rather, her. It was hard to think of Ranma as that carefree boy whom Genma, that fat panda, brought into her life so many years ago, but it was easier to see that petite pale red headed girl that Ranma became as a result of the curse and pressure point.

Over the years, her and Ranma had spent time together, allowing them to be a family for a short time, even though their son didn't fully understand the full relationship that Nabiki and Ranma enjoyed. Ranma had barely been there for the birth of Ryu, and had been there periodically during the years.

Ryu was was doing well at school, normal issues like bullies and paying attention in class and homework. Nabiki had to admit that it was a near constant battle with Genma when Ryu would come hone at night for him to allow the small child to complete his homework.

There had been some concern about the curse of Jusenkyo being passed on from father to son, but it appears that there was no worry for that. Ryu had asked once why 'Grandpa panda' turned into a panda at all. Nabiki didn't sugarcoat it for the young boy, but told him about the cursed pools of jusenkyo and how 'grandpa panda' had been cursed there.

"Like Daddy!" The boy had squealed.

Akane had left before Ryu had been born. Her dislike for Ranma had grown to the point where she felt betrayed by everybody else in the home. The fights were constant with her in the home and she never accepted Ryu and had gone out of her way to make life for the boy difficult in the future. When Nabiki found out the extent of what Akane had been doing, she made sure that the girl left. Family or not, Nabiki was very protective of her son.

The last time that Ranma had seen either Nabiki or Ryu was five years ago. Ranma had become focused on her life as a vampire and had lost hope that the Amazon's cure would be forthcoming anytime soon. She had grown more distant as time had passed until she just stopped calling and answering her phone. Church had warned of this. Especially after the last time that Ranma had come down and she had fed on Nabiki in a moment of passion.

Nabiki thought that this scared Ranma more than it had scared her.

In her hands she held the locket that held Ranma's cure to the Cat's tongue pressure point, that quasi mystical technique that the Amazons had used to make Ranma's body exceptionally sensitive to water temperature. Nabiki knew that she had to find Ranma and give her the cure so that they could be a proper family for the first time again.

Nabiki had waited till the midnight hour to make the call to the one person that she thought would be able to get a hold of Ranma and let her know that she could rejoin the family.

"Hello, Church. I know you're busy, but I need to get ahold of Ranma." Nabiki paused as Church said something.

"Hello Nabiki. I'm afraid I haven't heard from Ranma in a while. She's been busy."

"The Amazons sent me something for Ranma. The Pheonix pill."

"I see."

"She hasn't been returning my calls. I'm coming to see her. To bring her home to me. I've made arrangements to be there tomorrow afternoon. Would it be possible to have somebody meet me?"

"Of course."

"I miss her. Ryu misses her."

"I understand, I'll let her know."

"Please have her call me."

"She'll be in contact with you soon. Goodnight." The phone clicked as the line on the other side terminated the call.

Nabiki never did fully trust Church. Something about the thrice cursed individual nagged at Nabiki's subconscious.

Nabiki made another phone call and made further arrangements.

The next day, the locket was prominent around her neck as she said goodbye to the family. She was dressed severely and for business.

"Ryu, be good for Aunt Kasumi and your grandfathers."

"Yes, mom."

"No training trips while I'm gone. I shouldn't be gone long, but I want you all here when I get back."

"Now Nabiki, we would never do such a thing." Genma and Soun had gotten older, but despite all the fun that Nabiki had at pointing out that they were old, they were still martial artists.

"I'm not kidding, you old panda."

Nabiki gave everybody a final hug and made small promises to return quickly with Ranma. She turned to go, clutching a small envelope with Ryu's handwriting on it. The door to the taxi opened and shut and Nabiki was on her way to find Ranma.

I left the house and rode. I needed to get some information, things didn't feel right and some of the other mekhet said that if you didn't get a good feeling about something, then find another source and verify. One of the sources was Beady, an odd Mekhet that acted like an information desk for the clan. If you wanted to know something, he either already knew it or would know how you could find out. Beady wasn't his name though, just his nickname.

Church wasn't forthcoming about the covenants and I didn't want to hear the sales pitch before I heard the darker secrets.

Fortunately, Beady's haven was on the other side of town, far enough that I could make a stop and pick a couple of items up for the crazy kindred.

I had met the guy once before, didn't interact with him, but was there when a group I was running with needed some information and they went to him to get it. Beady didn't get out much, so he charged in blood, and secrets. Preferably one of yours.

His apartment was in one of those cramped and seedy things that felt like it was falling apart more than it was a home.

I parked my bike and made my way to his door and knocked gently. It opened a sliver of a crack and a beady eye glared out.

"Red." The voice sounded as if it hadn't been used in a long time.

"I need information."

"What do you have for me?"

"I seem to remember you like the vitae of the AB quality." Red pulled a couple of pouches from a pocket.

"You have a good memory." The door shut and the sounds of locks being undone could be heard. Several of them.

Finally the door slid open, I opened the door and stepped into the darkened interior. If I had been a mortal, then the inside of this apartment would have been pitch black with just a hint of light coming from the other room's window, but with the discipline Auspex, the room was lit just fine for me.

The floor of the apartment was littered with empty blood packs. The walls were a tableau of notes and strings leading to other notes, names, dates, odd facts and odd groupings."

The owner of the eye was a wreck of a man, skin and bones with patchy hair and necrotic skin. His movements were quick and smooth, almost betraying his appearance.

"Put your good memory to use and put the blood into the fridge for me." There were no lights in the apartment, not even in the old style refrigerator, all of them had been busted out a long time ago by the current inhabitant.

"What brings the newest Daughter of Curses to my doorstep tonight, what secrets do you wish to know?"

"Tell me about the Covenants."

"Ha! Don't trust just one set of lips do you? Good girl." He stepped over and cleared a seat of empty blood bags and took it by perching himself on his toes in it. His long fingers steepled in concentration. "What sort of information you want about the covenants, my sweet, they're all so full of secrets."

"Tell me about the Invictus."

"Power is their goal, their tools, and their fetish. They don't feel the need to understand, merely to control and own. Like spiders in a web of spies and real estate. But not all who are invictus are the lords of the castle, there is a terrible need for vassals and knights and the lords are very picky about who gets an invitation to their ranks. An honor, yes, but with hidden traps and preconceived notions of grandeur." Beady moved from the seat and started to pace.

"Money, secrets, noblesse oblige, regles noblesse, droit de statuer, and power corrupts. Founded after the fall of Rome and one of the only covenants to really be dedicated to the idea of governing kindred affairs."

"What does being a member mean, though?"

"Thinking of joining? Ha, You're not nobility, you'd be on the frontline enforcing the wills of those above you for as long as were useful. Sure, you would have money, but that's just a tool to these kindred. You ever find the drive, you get high enough and you'd be the one making policy."

"Nabiki would love them." I said under my breathe.

"hmm." Beady had stopped and made a scribble at random on the wall.

"What about the Ordo Dracul?"

"Vlad's little club. Mortal to immortal, immortal to something else or back again to mortal. They play with the curse like a boy plays with himself. Dangerous in an extreme way, like to experiment and not on themselves. Monsters doing monstrous things. Avoid them if possible, the Daughters of Jusenkyo have no friends in their halls."

"What do you mean? I thought that there were a couple of Daughters there already."

"Even among your clan, you have no friends in their halls."

"What about the Lancea Sanctum?"

"Are you a religious person? Believe in God and his curses? That Jesus Christ was crucified and stabbed in the side by Longinus? They model themselves after the church, a dark mass of blood and sin that revere a soldier and his act of violence against the executed. The Papal's evil twin."

"The Circle of the crone; blood magic, earth magic, gods magic. The Lancea's title for anything religious that isn't them. Ready to fight for the right to choose who you blame for your condition? That is what the Lancea would offer the Circle, their own dark and nightly version of the inquisition."

"Lastly is the Carthian Movement. Polar opposite in view to the Invictus, almost parallel in action though. A cult of personality, if you'll excuse the pop reference. Feudal seems to be the best system for kindred, the Carthian movement isn't convinced and are wanting to see a change done, often from the inside."

"I'm not sure I follow..."

"One kindred, one vote and the prince is that kindred. Introduce the movement and suddenly you have one vote per kindred, or something different, no unifying theme or idea except the word 'Change'. Good talkers, successful on small fronts, but the large scale doesn't see their big picture."

"I think I see." Beady was a bit odd once you got him going.

"Then there's the group that isn't a group. The VII and the demon's host. but you're a good kid, you wouldn't join those groups. Just knowing about them is a death sentence."

"Wait, what?"

"All that I've told you is nothing. Not even worth the blood you brought me, let me give you something worth your time." Beady started to look at the notes on his wall. "Your bloodline is an interesting group of women, Eve, most interesting of all. She had forged alliances that have lasted longer than most. "You don't embrace locally nor frequently. When you do embrace, it's almost a celebration for the entire extended family of your bloodline and ghouls and the new kindred is welcomed into the kindred family and society without so much as a blink from our Prince who has a severe limit on embraces. Why is that? Why were you accepted by the Prince without question, but then denies others?"

"Are you asking me?"

"No, I'm telling you, Eve had special arrangements in place with the Prince and the Invictus. The Daughters of Jusenkyo have proven to be quality kindred and any covenant would be happy to have another member of them in their ranks, but follow the money and see where your bloodline needs you."

"I see."

"Payment for this is your ring. I want to hold it."

My ring, I had a band around my wedding finger, a simple thing that I had worn since my marriage to Nabiki ten years ago. I was loathe to part with it.

"Only hold it." I slipped the ring off my finger and handed it to Beady. I had expected him to ask for something, last time I had been here, he had asked to see one of the group's gun.

Beady cupped it for a few moments and went still. After a few moments he became animated again and handed me the ring back.

"You have what you came for."

I did, so without any more ceremony I left. Beady's door was a riot of bolts and chains as he locked himself away again.

I had a need to speak to the sheriff.

Beady found his area of notes dedicated to the Daughters of Jusenkyo bloodline and started to scribble away. One note had one question on it. 'Who is Nabiki?'


	6. Chapter 4

Daughters of Jusenkyo

Chapter 4

One of the tricks I learned over the years as a kindred was to have a watch with a countdown for when dawn hits. Even though we can all feel it coming, it's nice to have a solid number to put to that feeling. When I left Beady's, I still had three hours of dark to play with.

'Follow the money' he says. None of the Covenants sound all that appealing to be honest. When I had attended court, those kindred who claimed allegiance with the various covenants had all creeped me out to one degree or another, but to be fair, most kindred had though.

Ever since joining the Danse Macabre, the kindred term for our existence, I had been largely sheltered within the Daughter's home. Ever since moving out though, I have seen things that have shocked me.

Things that weren't out of place in a horror movie turned out to be real and active, fearsome in their own regard, but at the same time oddly conversational if you can just accept different viewpoints into your head.

I got on my bike, made a quick phone call to arrange a meeting with the Invictus representative for tomorrow night, and then drove back to my haven for the day. I would still have enough time to wash up and maybe start a load of laundry. Yes, kindred have to wash their clothes.

I got up to my apartment and I knew that something was wrong, my door was ajar. Not just ajar but busted open. Impressive considering that I had paid for the secured haven package with one of the more enterprising kindred in the city, it included a door that could withstand a police door breaker.

I reached out with my senses to see if my apartment was empty or if those responsible were still here.

Auspex enhanced senses allowed me to listen to any noise coming from the apartment, any scents they may have left, any prints, or anything else beyond the range of normal human limits. What I heard from my apartment was some wind noise coming from open windows? No heartbeats, no movement, no voices. I went in stealthily.

My haven was usually a mess, now it was trashed, destroyed in a way that said that somebody had a grudge against me personally. My heart sank as I looked at the bedroom and saw that the dvd and pictures of my wedding were among the victims of whomever attacked my haven. My nose smelled an animal smell, dog or wolf, and a feminine smell, not perfume, but a sweaty natural smell, earthy. All of it was almost overwhelmed by what was coming out of the kitchen.

In the kitchen, whatever blood I had stored had been ripped open and splashed around like champagne. No luck that I couldn't find any prints or anything else. It looked as if somebody had been murdered in there. The windows had been shattered; the sounds of the street could be heard easily. I was actually surprised that the police weren't here already. As if on cue, I could hear sirens in the distance start up.

This wasn't a kindred hit. This was done by humans.

I had to vanish. With my haven compromised, I couldn't stay here today, or ever again.

There was a process to this situation. Step one was to get away from the scene unnoticed.

I willed myself to disappear, not wishful thinking in a kindred with the appropriate discipline. I was about to leave the apartment under the influence of vampiric power when I found out who was responsible.

A knife was embedded in the door with a note that held one name; mine. Saotome.

I grabbed the knife and note and left.

I had just under two hours to find an alternative haven unnoticed.

888

The plane ride from Japan to Hong Kong was spent in quiet contemplative silence, despite the many attempts of her fellow passenger who insisted in making small talk with her. Every time she had gotten her mind wrapped into the situation with Ranma and how she was going to find her missing partner, the guy would start asking questions.

Even her legendary Ice Queen mask of death hadn't quelled the guy's curiosity. It wasn't as if he was asking anything unusual, it was just either mindless flirting or him going on about his passion for food.

Nabiki hadn't given the guy a second look, barely a first look, but he was persistent. First impression, the guy was handsome in a way, but nothing truly impressive. The way he was acting, flirting was his default mode and he wasn't used to being ignored.

"I own a chain of restaurants, I'm looking to expand but I have to find a partner first." The guy was prattling on again.

Nabiki tried to tune him out. She took out the locket and examined it again and thought about all that it represented. With Ranma's curse unlocked, he would be free to come home and be with his family.

For as long as Nabiki could remember, that had been Ranma's goal. Only after she lost hope that it would happen did Ranma dedicate herself to her new existence.

"So what is bringing you to Hong Kong?" The guy broke her concentration again.

"I'm looking for somebody." Nabiki said before she put the ice queen mask back into place.

"Really? So am I. I'm looking for an old friend, haven't seen him in years. We got a lot to catch up on once I find the guy."

Despite herself, Nabiki encouraged the guy to continue.

"We were best friends till he moved away, just left in the middle of the night. Didn't know what happened to him, we had made a lot of plans together and I finally know where to find the dude so I can find out what happened to him."

"I hope that you find him." Nabiki's interest didn't extend as far as she had thought, and nowhere near as far as he had hoped. Nabiki closed her eyes to tune the guy out again.

"Hey," the guy was poking her arm. "We're about to land, you fell asleep a couple of hours ago. Thought you would like to get ready." Really, if Nabiki hadn't gotten married so young, this guy may have had a chance. Maybe one night to prove his worth.

True to his word, the plane was touching down and hitting the tarmac. Fifteen minutes of tense silence as the plane maneuvered into the airport passed without another peep out of the guy.

Nabiki was off the plane and the guy made a wave goodbye with a bright smile. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent a brief text message off before moving on.

Scanning the crowd outside the security checkpoints, Nabiki found a familiar face in the crowd. Alex was standing there, holding a sign with her name on it. 'Nabiki Saotome'

Nabiki came over and acknowledged the man.

"For being part of a secretive family, you don't do subtle do you?" Nabiki gave the man a good once over. Fit like a martial artist, only his eyes betrayed that his youthful face wasn't as young as it appeared.

"Over-rated. I do it when I have to but sometimes, it is really refreshing to just be honest and forthcoming." Alex smiled and hugged Nabiki. "That's a very nice locket you have there." Alex let Nabiki go and examined the locket. "Personally, I think they spend more time making the jewelry than they do the actual medicine."

"I can't argue with you there." Nabiki held out her arm. "Would this handsome gentleman like to escort me to the car rental place?"

"I'll do one better and escort you to your carriage courtesy of me."

"Lead the way." Alex led Nabiki to pick up her bags and then retrieved the car and started to pull away from the airport.

"You hungry? There's still a few hours before sunset. I know a great place that's got the best American food."

"What's it called?"

"American Restaurant"

Nabiki felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and read the text message.

"Forgive me, Alex. Even when I take a small vacation, the office can't let me go." Nabiki quickly typed out a message and sent it. "Yes, I am hungry."

As the car drove away, a lone figure had watched Nabiki get into the car. He sent a quick message to his employer about the status of the target and asked for update.

It wasn't long before he received his answer. He quickly got into his own vehicle and sped off into the city.

888

The police officer was pouring over his notes, rereading them to make sure that he hadn't missed any details before writing up his reports for the day.

'At approximately 4 am, dispatch received an anonymous tip about a break in at the Tandy apartment building. As the first officer on the scene, I noted the following. Door had been busted in, all furnishings had been slashed with a cutting instrument, possibly a knife. Windows had been shattered. Blood was everywhere in the kitchen, the source of which was a small pile of blood bags which had been slashed open, they were found elsewhere in the apartment. Note: no bladed instruments, dishes or silverware were present at the scene. Resident not present. Neighbors reported no noise from the apartment and none admitted to calling Emergency services. Forensics came on scene and documented the devastation. They found media that had partial images of a wedding, conjecture at this point, the faces had been either ripped out or burned. Contacted landlord and found name of resident, "Lily Pai" attempted to call the number registered with landlord and got a disconnected number message. Despite state of apartment, it is not consistent with a struggle. Officers have been stationed there to see if Lily Pai comes back. I left the scene at approximately six am.

Questions: Where is Lily Pai? Why did she have blood bags in her apartment? Where did they come from? Who did this? How did nobody hear the noise of a door being busted in and an apartment being destroyed? Who made the anonymous tip? Where is the blade? '

Satisfied that he covered all the major points in his report, he filed it away for the detectives to follow up on. He logged his hours and went home for the day.


	7. Chapter 5

Daughters of Jusenkyo

Chapter 5

The American Restaurant had been exactly as Alex had promised. The food was exotic for Nabiki and she indulged while remaining alert. Nabiki checked her watch out of habit to see the time, three pm, a few hours and they would be able to find Ranma.

"So the plan is that we're going to see Ranma after sunset at her apartment, right?"

"That's the plan, she hasn't been answering her phone for me either, so hopefully we'll catch her before she leaves for the night."

"I have to admit a bit of concern that she's not answering anybody's phone calls."

"Actually, that isn't out of the norm. I remember when I was running around with the night crowd, your active hours are effectively cut in half so you have to cram in so much into so little time, you lose track of time in a way. Depending on what she's been up too, she may not even realize that she's missed any calls or that she isn't returning them."

Nabiki didn't look as if she were buying it. Her cell phone was her lifeline, had been ever since they came out. She found it hard to imagine anybody not relying on such a device. Then again, Ranma never had much exposure to technology to begin with.

Being a ruthless woman, Nabiki had taught herself how to read people. Ever since she had met with Alex, he had been showing subtle signs of reluctance. There were times when Nabiki almost didn't catch it and even now she questioned if she was reading him right, but she was getting the message that Alex either had news he didn't want to say, or knew something was about to happen he didn't agree with.

"I suppose."

"Looking forward to being with him again?"

"He's going to be so young, isn't he? Physically, I mean. Five years is a long time, I know I've gotten older. I just hope he's still interested in this." Nabiki started to absently play with the locket.

"I've had this curse for a long time, it is true that it does effect how we age, but I can tell you right now, that Ranma doesn't see the age, but your soul. You get him back and he'll be yours."

"I hope you're right. If you don't mind, I made a reservation at a hotel and while we have time I would like to get them confirmed."

"I apologize, I had assumed that you would be staying with us at the house."

"I understand. I'm hoping that with Ranma's restoration, there would be celebrating."

"Of course, we all would... oh, never mind, I see what you mean. Allow me to get the bill and we'll be on our way."

The meal paid for, the pair made their way back out to the car.

"Where are your reservations?" The last part of Alex's question was lost in a screech of tires as a nondescript van screeched to a halt on the road in front of their parked cars and hitherto unnoticed figures leapt into action. Nabiki found herself grappling with a nondescript man, her martial arts training having been the deciding element in whether she would have been shoved into the van.

Alex, it seemed, hadn't been so lucky. He was sporting a bloody nose and was being assaulted as well.

Nabiki let her training take over, she wasn't the savant that Ranma or Akane had been, but she wasn't a slouch either. The reason that she didn't have a wall full of ribbons and trophies proclaiming her as a champion was because she didn't compete. Despite that, she was outnumbered and cornered and being herded towards a van by aggressive men.

If they had been fair, a relative term to begin with, then they wouldn't have brought the tazers. When it became obvious that the simple grab wouldn't go as planned, the men redoubled their efforts in a last ditch move to force the Japanese woman into the van. It lasted for five minutes, Nabiki's clutch with her phone was dropped in the confusion, but they wore her down and incapacitated her with a tazer blast before they gathered her up and drove away, leaving a battered Alex running after them.

Unnoticed during the melee, a figure had approached the car and made a text on his phone. He was about to move away when he heard the jingle of a phone. He found the source and picked up Nabiki's clutch, dropped during the battle. He fished out the phone and read the text. He nodded, his face grim. pocketing the phone he let the small bag go and he rushed to his own car and set off in pursuit of the van.

Inside the van, they didn't waste any time in binding Nabiki and blindfolding her.

"They didn't say she could fight." One of the men said in Mandarin.

888

I awoke in darkness. My head felt heavy and enclosed. It took me a moment to remember the events of the morning and remember what had happened to my haven. I was still dressed in my motorcycle gear, full body leather, gloves, and helmet. I took off my helmet and took stock of my situation.

My haven was compromised by hunters

Hunters with a very personal reason for hunting me.

I was to meet with the sheriff to discuss joining the Invictus later tonight.

I was alive.

All in all, it could be worse.

My phone beeped in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw I had a few missed calls and a couple of text messages, I also saw that my battery was just about to, nevermind, just ran out of juice and my phone powered down. I would need to get another power cord, the original back at the apartment cut or ripped into bits.

Where I was was a safehouse for kindred. A vacant hole in the wall meant for emergencies just like this one. I remember having to really push the boundaries of both my bike, the speed limit, and dodging traffic to get here before dawn broke.

I was crumpled by the door, having literally closed and bolted the door before dawn had hit and left me comatose for the day. I knew that there wouldn't be much for me to stay, so I put my helmet back on and left.

It was still early enough in the dusk that everything was a shade of deepening blue, the sky where the sun had set still had vestiges of the day's color and I would have taken a moment to appreciate it if I didn't have a pressing need to be moving.

I had covered my bike with a convenient tarp by the side of the building. I was out in what kindred called the barrens, nothing to really hunt out here for miles. No reason for me to be here meant that it was perfect for me.

"Ranma." Crap. I turned to face the voice. Akane was standing there. She had changed, older, tougher, scarred and cold, I kept my senses open for her partner.

"Look, I'm sorry I missed your wedding. Congratulations by the way, how is the mongrel?" That got a reaction from him. I could hear him growling under his breathe around the corner of the house away from my bike and Akane.

"Ryoga meets my needs. No need to apologize for missing something you weren't invited too." I heard Ryoga, the wolf, crouching at the opposite of the side of the alley we were in, a low growl in his throat.

When I was much younger, during the ill fated training trip my father had embarked on with me, we had unwittingly and unknowingly picked up a straggler in Ryoga. At some point, he had followed us to China and Jusenkyo, subsequently falling into one of the many pools there. Now he was cursed to be a wolf with cold water and he blamed me for his misfortune. Akane was Nabiki's sister and just hated me. The two were perfect for each other.

"So what brings you to Hong Kong? Our delicious cuisine? Fine tourist attractions?" They had me trapped in the alley between the safehouse and the other building, they were closing in slowly and cautiously.

"Prey." Akane's voice was hard.

"Not really religious, so I haven't in a while."

"We're hunters. Ever since you opened our eyes, it's been my life's mission to cleanse the world of your bloodsucking filth. Ryoga still holds a grudge though. Every vampire he kills I think he pretends it's you."

"You were the one that grabbed that girl and her new vampire?"

"We were hunting her when you showed up. We were both so excited that we had found you, but we had to make sure, but now that we're satisfied that you're you, I think we're going to enjoy ourselves with your pain."

They had been edging closer with every second. I pumped vitae into all of my limbs and called upon my curse's gift of inhuman speed and attacked.

It was a close thing either way. They had been doing this, hunting vampires, for a while now and in that business, you're either very good at it or you're very dead. The only edge I had against them was that I was the only kindred who had extensive martial arts training that they had faced. I'm not saying that I was more than a match for them, just that I wasn't the easy victim they had assumed I would be.

After a few minutes, the three of us were still standing, each bloodied, and breathing hard. Individually, I could have taken them with no problem, but together, they were just that much too much for me. I could feel the vitae in my body starting to burn up to maintain my enhanced abilities. I noted where we were and got an idea.

"As much fun as this is, we should really save it for the next family reunion." Akane was standing by a wall, her arm resting on it while she caught her breathe. I lunged forward and feinted as if I were making a kick for her face. She reacted as I had hoped and ducked and counter-kicked. I used her kick's momentum to plant my foot on hers and used it to launch myself up and onto the building next to where we had been fighting.

Once I was out of their sight, I defocused myself as I was taught so that I would fade from their sight and minds. Normal mortals, this wasn't an issue, their minds are so unfocused, they could easily be persuaded to not focus on a kindred. Akane and Ryoga were both very focused.

I kept moving though, I had to either get away from them or separate them and deal with them individually.

It took a few minutes, but they finally gave up their hunt for me after I really concentrated on not being there.

Thankfully, they hadn't sabotaged my bike during the day nor during the fight. I had a meeting with the Sheriff and I had more than just my application to his organization to talk to him about.


End file.
